Ive been thinking a lot lately about how most of the corporations in america are slowly but surely consuming all the small businesses that they can. Recently Facebook. Bought out Vine, a popular 7 sec video app, and released the new video feature On instagram that Is 15 seconds more enjoyable . So My question is to you, what do you think of the big Fish eating small fish concept ? Will america become one giant walmart ?

Government wouldn't allow it. Regulators question the effects of such deals would have on both competitors and consumers. Without the innovative and job-creating potential of new small businesses, capitalism devolves into a fixed game dominated by big money and insider influence. Just my take but i'm a boy and "Boys are Dumb" sooooo

First off facebook never bought vine, a 6 second video social networking app. Twitter did. Second monopolies are usually illegal and broken up by the government.

Giant corporations buy smaller corporations because it enhances their corporation. It is not against the will of the smaller corp..Sometimes its best to start a business and sell it at its peak demand (I'm not sure if I'm even using the right vocabulary here) .

But yeah bottom line, no monopolies, and smaller businesses sell tiger company willingly.

Can't add much to this conversation since the first couple comments hit it on the head.

The only time Small Fish wins against Big Fish is if they are creating a new market which was not imagined before. So, creating a product/service that people think they need. Then when everyone is using that product/service they complain that the Small Fish company is now the "Big Fish" and that's where the new cycle begins.

Facebook anyone? I remember when I was on it and it was just a few crazy college kids keeping in touch.

You could also argue that this is how the current banking system started in the 1920's. There used to be hundreds of banks across the states but after the crash they had an all out war with only a few survivors and they are now the ones who control the federal reserves. And why we're in debt today.

I'm sure it's been happening throughout history though. You can chalk it up to a product of nature.

I doubt it. There will always be people to start up small businesses with new and interesting ideas. America seems to be quite strict about monopolies too, so getting your hand on all the businesses would be extremely hard.

Where things like insurance companies, I prefer to be interested in small businesses. Companies like Geico and State Farm they treat their customers like numbers and cash cows. They keep making up new policies to the point that you don't even know what kind of coverage you actually have. And, when you want to actually talk to an agent, it's either their voicemail is full or out of reach in person.

Don't even talk about contract terminations. Ugh. That gets ugly. For real.

Instead of having light bulbs that could last a lifetime, we're being misguided to purchase stuff that only last for few years, months, or lesser.
Well, somebody has to make money out of someone. That's how they get their livelihood.

Same goes to video games, publishing version 1.5, 2.0, 3.0, roster 2016, etc. We should know that they could put all the great stuff in one game, in one version, one release; but in order to sustain their livelihood, they hold stuff and publish these what they called "improvements/patch works" to multiple versions and releases.

That already happens wolrwide and on a much bigger scale than Walmart, there's a group of 147 companies that own 40% of the entire networth of a core group of 1,318 that are basically the heart of the world's economy.

There is less and less a given government can do to regulate large corporations, with financial deregulation, free trade agreements, globalization of capital. No country can exert any real control anymore; they can make gestures, hollow threats, but capital has no allegiances. There is no international civil court and politicos anywhere are driven by money and guess who's got lots of that.

This reminds me of the swordfish steak that I had several months ago... Delicious.

There isn't much for me to say that hasn't already been covered, but I'll throw in that I don't see a nationwide monopoly ever successfully coming about. Too many upper-tiers make more money through competition, and I doubt companies want to risk sparking revolutions, riots, civil wars, etc. that would ultimately ruin them. Corporations are greedy and selfish, so they generally know to look after their own asses.